


Day 3: Earth

by GemmaRose



Series: Lancelot Week [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Homesick Lance (Voltron), M/M, Morning Cuddles, Reminiscing, Sleepy Cuddles, holy shit that's a tag?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 02:31:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12785028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: His whole life, the stars called to him, a siren song pulling at his heart. Now, over a year into life in space, that song is drowned by another. The song of the planet he left behind.





	Day 3: Earth

Lance didn’t miss the castle often. It was huge and old and creepy, and ever since the thing with Sendak it had always felt slightly too _alive_ for him to be truly comfortable. The halls of Lotor’s cruiser were cozy instead of cavernous, its interior design sleekly modern instead of anciently ornate, its crew made up of robots and trained soldiers instead of a handful of humans, two aliens, and a planet’s worth of ghosts. And, of course, Lotor’s cruiser had Lotor on it. But even with his boyfriend on board, one thing the cruiser lacked was a starmap like the one in the castle’s bridge. It had maps, sure, but none of the 3D ones displayed more than two or three solar systems at a time.

He missed the castle’s starmap, the one that let him see for himself how far away home was, but there wasn’t any way to get such a thing on this ship. So he made do, and kept a handheld starmap calibrated to display the star system he missed more than anything else. He spun its holographic display with one finger, watching the dots of light dance in the air over his palm. The asteroid belt was a single ring of light, even at the closest zoom, but that wasn’t where his eyes were focused. No, he was tracking the little dot second inside the ring. It didn’t look like much at this resolution, just a point of light with an alphanumeric designation, but he still couldn’t tear his eyes from it.

“What’s it like?”

Lance startled slightly, reflexively curling his fingers around the starmap’s projector to hide the display. “Sorry, did I wake you?” he twisted slightly in Lotor’s arms, giving his boyfriend a small smile.

“Mm, no.” Lotor nuzzled at the spot where his neck and shoulder met, one hand moving to uncurl his fingers from around the starmap. “What’s it like, your homeworld?”

“I’ve told you about it before, haven’t I?” Lance chuckled, wriggling around until he and Lotor were facing each other.

“Tell me again.”

“Well, where I grew up, there’s a beach.” he whispered, lifting a hand to brush some of Lotor’s hair back from his face. “I’d go down there every chance I got, just to swim in the ocean. Sometimes at night, Amalia and I would sneak out with windsurfer boards and paddle out until it was just us and the stars, and it would be like we were floating in space with just the barest light on the horizon to show us the way home.”

Lotor’s eyelids slid lower, his mouth curling up in a sleepy smile that set butterflies in Lance’s stomach. “Before I found the Blue Lion, I went to school in a desert.” he said softly, tucking Lotor’s hair behind his ear and tracing the sensitive cartilage. “It was beautiful, in a way. Huge stretches of dry earth with towers and cliffs of sandstone. During the day it was like being in an oven, and at night it was the coldest natural thing I’d ever experienced.”

“It sounds incredible.” Lotor murmured, still wearing that soft, sleepy smile. “I would love to see it someday.”

“I’d love to take you.” Lance leaned forwards and nuzzled his nose against Lotor’s. “Show you the pizza shack on the beach, the farm animals the Abellós keep in their yard, the arcade...”

“I wish I had somewhere I could show you.” Lotor frowned, a delicate little pout so different from his usual displeased expressions Lance had hardly been able to believe it the first time. “I don’t even have a homeworld to bring you to.”

Lance made a low, pained noise and pressed closer to Lotor, who rumbled wordlessly and hugged him tight. “I know nothing can make up for how you grew up, but once they get to know you my moms are going to _try_.” he promised, returning his boyfriend’s embrace with all the strength he could muster.

“I’ll look forward to meeting them, once Voltron is defeated and their Coalition has fallen.” Lotor pulled away enough for Lance to see his smile.

Lance opened his mouth to agree, then closed it again with a frown. “Why wait? I know Earth is far away, but this ship has warp drive, it couldn’t take more than a day or two to get there and then back to the front lines.”

Lotor looked bemused, then laughed softly and leaned in to press a gentle kiss to his lips. “I appreciate your faith in our strength, but if we engage the Coalition in your home system they will surely call Voltron, and I will not risk a direct battle with them. Especially when my best pilot will be planetside.”

Lance blinked, then chuckled as he realized Lotor’s misjudgement.

“What?” Lotor frowned, and Lance pressed a fist to his mouth to muffle his laughter. “You _are_ the best pilot among my Generals.” he insisted, and Lance held a finger up as he struggled to swallow his mirth.

“Thanks, nene, but-” he giggled again, smile spreading so wide his cheeks hurt. “The Coalition hasn’t gone to Earth.”

“But, you and the other Paladins are _from_ Earth.” Lotor’s frown deepened, his confusion as visible as it was audible.

“The Coalition only reaches out to planets in the Empire.” Lance explained, his smile and laughter finally abating. “I haven’t seen Earth since we found Blue and she dragged us to Arus.”

“You just pointed out that it wouldn’t take long to visit with my ship’s technology.” Lotor’s brow furrowed. “The altean castle has a functioning teludav, it would take even less time for Voltron to visit.”

“We were kinda busy.” Lance shrugged.

“Too busy to say goodbye to your families?”

The longing he’d managed to shake off when Lotor woke up came crashing back with a vengeance, and Lotor pushed himself up on one arm. “And Kuron has never seen Earth with his own eyes, has he?” he asked rhetorically. Lance shook his head anyways.

Shiro hadn’t been born or raised on Earth, the fact that he was a colony kid had been highly publicised when he was announced the pilot for the Kerberos mission, but at least he had family there. Or at least, he’d had family on Earth at one point. It was hard to tell when he’d only ever spoken of his family in the past tense. Kuron, though... he had Shiro’s memories, but he’d admitted that most of those from before Kerberos were sketchy at best. He’d never felt the sun’s warmth on his face, never seen the stars come out as night fell, never tasted popcorn or pizza or a proper milkshake flavoured with normal fruits.

“Lotor?” Lance pushed himself up, his face pulling into a small confused frown as Lotor sat up fully and reached for the holodot on the bedside table. “What are you doing?”

“I’m calling Kuron back from his mission.” Lotor said, turning the device on and scrolling through the contacts to reach Kuron’s. “You two have something far more important to do.”

“And that is?” Lance prodded, struggling not to jump to conclusions.

“Expanding the Empire, and striking a blow against Voltron’s morale in one.” he smiled, selecting Kuron’s icon and tapping the button to dial. “You’re going to bring Earth into the Empire.”

Lance’s heart soared, and he let out a wordless shout of joy as he flung himself into Lotor’s lap, throwing his arms around his boyfriend’s neck to pull him into a kiss. Lotor wrapped an arm around the small of his back, returning the kiss passionately, and Lance pulled away with a wide grin. “ _Thank you_.”

“What are we thanking Lotor for?” Kuron yawned, blinking sleepily at them on the holodot’s screen.

“We’re going home!” Lance beamed, settling himself more comfortably across Lotor’s lap.

“Lance, you’re already on Lotor’s ship.” Kuron frowned at him.

“Aww.” Lotor grinned. Lance rolled his eyes.

“Not here home, _home_ home.”

“I’m sending you two to bring Earth into the Empire.” Lotor said, and Kuron’s eyes widened.

“Oh.”

“Best. Boyfriend. Ever.” Lance turned his head, and pressed a kiss to Lotor’s jaw. Not only would he get to go _home_ , he’d also be able to make sure that Hunk and Pidge’s families knew the truth. That their children, and in Mrs. Holt’s case her husband as well, had been abducted by aliens who had the power to send them home but refused to do so in order to further their own agendas. If he spun it just right, maybe he could even get his friends absolved of guilt.


End file.
